Not Nel. There was only the one eye. Her circulatory system did not look familiar, though that did not necessarily mean much. Eva hadn’t paid close enough attention to the majority of nuns she had met to be able to identify individuals.
Nel had been in Sawyer’s clutches the last time Eva saw her. That probably didn’t bode well for her. But another nun? Did Ylva go out and pick up a replacement like the girl was some kind of goldfish?
The nun sat with her knees to the ground and her hands in her lap. Every few seconds, her vapid smile would vanish and be replaced with an almost blank expression.
The only other person in range was Devon. He was sitting sideways in a chair with his back and legs on the armrests. Sleeping; his heart rate was low and his head lolled off to one side.
Nuzzling against Arachne, Eva turned her attentions to herself. There were several cuts across her body, especially her back and sides. They all looked to be about the right size and amount to have been self-inflicted. It wasn’t as bad as the dark place. Most were shallow.
Healing them wouldn’t be much trouble.
Then there was the knife hole in her back. It didn’t hurt. Not unless she moved. Breathing too deep caused a good amount of pain as well. Given that one of her lungs had been nicked, that wasn’t too much of a surprise. But there was something odd.
“I’m not bleeding?”
Zoe glanced over her shoulder. “After removing your curse, Ylva stuck her finger into your wound. She said it would hold until you could take care of it.”
“Well, thanks,” Eva said as honestly as she could. Surviving whatever Sawyer had done to her only to die from bleeding out would have been far too embarrassing to stand.
Eva frowned as she attempted weaving her flesh back together. “I’m having trouble healing myself.”
“Lingering Death magic,” Ylva said in a calm voice.
Far calmer than Eva felt, she said, “Death magic?”
“The nuns’ lightning,” Zoe quickly said. Her growing panic must have been evident on Eva’s face. “It eats away at other magic, it is how we cured your curse. Unfortunately, it is probably going to interfere with your healing for a time.”
“Nun lightning is Death magic? With a capital ‘D’ and everything?”
Excitement crept into Zoe’s voice. “Oh yes. All their ‘white’ magic is. Hyper-specialized and tailored for fighting undeath. Would you believ–”
A loud snort from Devon interrupted Zoe as he rustled in his sleep.
“Sorry,” she said, speaking softer. “You probably don’t want all the details before you’re even out of bed.”
Eva closed her eyes and pressed her head up against Arachne. Not being stuck in that hallway was amazing, and talking was a huge thing she had missed. But Zoe had a point. “A little rest might be nice.”
Zoe nodded. She fidgeted for a moment as if unsure of what to do.
“There is something you must know,” Ylva said, stepping forward. “Our subject has been trapped within Hell. Nel will search for her and the other human after a brief respite of her own.”
I guess Nel isn’t with Sawyer after all?
Eva blinked her eyes open as the rest of what was said started to register.
Ylva had moved close enough to be seen with her regular eyes, but she turned and walked away before Eva could fully process what she had said. The nun got to her feet and followed her out, keeping a distance of about three paces.
Subject? She referred to Nel as a servant. Zoe was in the room, so Juliana must be in Hell unless that was a complete non-sequitur? The other human?
“Why are Juliana and Shalise in Hell?”
Carlos moved up next to Eva’s bed. “Your professor, Rex Zagan, sent them there,” he said softly.
“According to Jordan Anderson,” Zoe added.
Eva pinched her eyes shut. “Why would he send them to Hell? What for?”
When neither of them responded, Eva opened her eyes to find Carlos slowly shaking his head. Zoe had pressed her lips into a thin line.
“You didn’t ask him?”
“He hasn’t been in school since the attack,” Zoe said. “Martina doesn’t know where he is or why he did it either.
“Even if he was in school, I don’t think it would be wise to provoke him. It will be difficult to rescue them if we are trapped as well.”
Eva sighed. Always one thing after another.
“How long?”
“Two weeks. And a few days change.”
Biting her lip, Eva said, “that’s a long time.” A long time to be unconscious as well. That might explain her hunger. It was a rare occasion that Eva ate, but she was still human enough to need mortal sustenance.
“Ylva,” Carlos started. He stopped and pressed his glasses up onto his face before continuing. “Their souls are not in Death’s–with Death… They’re not dead.”
“That’s good,” Eva said slowly. Good unless they were trussed up like the people she had found. She elected not to mention anything about that.
“But we won’t have any plan for what to do until Nel finds them,” Zoe said. “You can rest until then. At the very least. I mean… we’re not forcing you to go to Hell–”
“It’s fine. They’re my friends. I won’t leave them there. But until Nel is ready, I think I’d like to rest.”
Zoe nodded, turned, and left. Carlos lingered for another minute, almost speaking a few times. In the end, he shook his head and followed after Zoe.
Eva shut her eyes and moved her head up against Arachne’s carapace.
It hadn’t felt like two weeks. Longer. A month. Maybe two. All with nothing but the hallway and its blood-red walls, black floor, and carpet. And two endless directions.
No Arachne. No Zoe. No Devon. No Juliana or Shalise.
Eva sighed in contentment as Arachne’s fingers brushed her arm.
Which reminded her of something. “You said you had a gift for me?”
“I think you’ll like it,” Arachne said. She skittered her way out from around Eva and moved to the women’s ward master bedroom.
When she returned, Eva found herself holding onto an actual wrapped present. With a bow and everything. A very silky bow. The wrapping was made of the same silvery material.
Careful to not disturb her back injury, Eva pulled open the wrapping and pulled out the box.
It was a clear plastic container. Inside was a… “mutilated hand?”
“Not just any mutilated hand,” Arachne said, radiating pride. “When we rescued Nel from Sawyer, he managed to escape. But, not before I got my claws into him. With Nel back and part of his hand…”
“We can find him.” Eva stared into Arachne’s wide smile and felt her own face twist into a mirror.
“I thought you might want a little vengeance.”
“Arachne,” Eva said, “I think I will kiss you.”
— — —
An uncontrollable shudder wracked through Nel’s body. It started at the useless lump of flesh her arm had become and worked its way through the rest of her body from her shoulder.
Given all the holes in it, keeping it out of the water would have probably been a good idea.
As it was, Nel did not care.
It was the first bath she had had in over two weeks.
Even better, it was in Lady Ylva’s bath. She never thought she would see this place again. She had been certain that her last sight was going to be whatever Sawyer pointed her chair towards.
Now, chin deep in hot water with her head resting in a perfectly shaped groove in the stone, Nel didn’t even care that the perverted gargoyles were watching her with their beady little eyes.
So enraptured was she in her little oasis of respite that Nel didn’t notice a second person entering the room until they slipped into the water and cozied on up to her.
Far too close for comfort.